A large crowd turned out for the Phillies Alumni benefit barbecue outside Citizens Bank Park in 2011. The stadium draws people for socializing as well as watching games.

Written by

Joe Mock
| For the USA TODAY

Any manufacturer would be happy to see his sales increase by 84%. Baseball teams such as the Philadelphia Phillies are no different.

They are thrilled that attendance during the team's first nine years of playing at Citizens Bank Park was 84% higher than the final nine seasons they played in the same complex in South Philadelphia at now-demolished Veterans Stadium.

Average attendance per season during The Vet's last nine years (1995 through 2003) was 1,790,408, and they had crowds of at least 40,000 43 times. But from 2004 through 2012 at Citizens Bank Park, an average of 3,293,611 came ...